Louisiana Senate splits on pair of election-related bills

Senators shot down a proposed referendum Tuesday afternoon to decide whether appointees or staffers who fill the terms of elected officials who leave office should then be able to run for those positions. Soon after, a separate election-related bill that would allow elected officials to use interest earned in their campaign accounts to finance the state's higher education scholarship program breezed through the Senate.

Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge

Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, filed both bills and said the referendum, which would have amended the state Constitution, was designed to prevent political appointees chosen to temporarily fill elected offices from gaining an advantage as an incumbent when voters choose a permanent replacement.

The amendment would have dealt with cases in which a statewide elected officials left office and their deputy took over the position, as well as circumstances where a local official vacated a seat and a replacement was appointed.

"Scott Angelle did the honorable thing in my mind," Claitor said, referring to the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources. Angelle was appointed lieutenant governor after Mitch Landrieu left that office to become mayor of New Orleans. "He said, 'I'll take the position, but I won't run for the office.'"

Senators rejected the measure 24-14.

The second bill Claitor put before senators Tuesday fared better, with nearly the entire Senate supporting his proposal to let candidates and political action committees send interest earned on campaign accounts to help finance the TOPS program.

The program would set up a trust fund to collect the interest and distribute it to TOPS. Claitor's original bill would have made the program mandatory, but it was later amended so that elected officials and groups could opt in.

Ethics officials have until 2015 to set up the program.

Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, was the only senator to vote against the proposal, which now must be approved by the House.